New interview with mystery author Hawk MacKinney

Welcome back mystery author Hawk MacKinney! Today we’re chatting about Blood of the Dragonfly: Book 5 of The Moccasin Hollow Mysteries.

During his virtual book tour, Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:
Internationally acclaimed author and public speaker, Hawk MacKinney began writing mysteries for his school newspapers. Following graduation, he served in the US Navy for over 20 years. While serving as a Navy Commander, he also had a career as a full-time faculty member at several major state medical facilities. He earned two postgraduate degrees with studies in languages and history and has taught postgraduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem, Israel.

In addition to professional articles and texts on fetal and adult anatomy, Hawk has authored several novels that have received national and international recognition. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel, was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award,

Known for his terrifying suspense and unique “Southron” dialog, Hawk has published five novels in the Moccasin Hollow Mysteries: Hidden Chamber of Death, Westobou Gold, Curse of the Ancients, and Dead Gold. Blood of the Dragonfly is the most recent.

In a change of direction, Hawk has also published three books in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series: The Bleikovat Event, Volume I, The Missing Planets, Volume II, and his latest book in this series, The Inanna Phantom, Volume III.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews. Please tell us about your newest release
Blood of the Dragonfly wraps intrigue around the smoking remains of an old mansion, half-burned bodies, and exotic jewelry that drag the former SEAL/now private investigator Craige Ingram into dangers of international dimension.

What inspired you to write this book?
I visited some forgotten vine-covered ruins, read about a string of faceless nameless bodies, and heard the whispered rumors about missing records of an investigation gone cold. All it took was letting my imagination stick together the pieces.

Excerpt from Blood of the Dragonfly:
In the bright sun-fired afternoon, Craige parked curbside in front of Mattie Skuggs’ well-lived-in cared-for neat welcoming house. He never pulled into Mattie’s driveway. Mattie never owned a car. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had; she would’ve made sure no oil or grease smudges got left on her drive. The drive was spotless. Outside and in, everything about her small cottage of a house was clean and inviting. Mattie fit right into the homey, comfortable space she had made for herself. He made his way up the pansy-trimmed dollhouse walkway embraced with flower beds of daylilies and wild violets in scrupulously weeded, arranged patterns across Mattie’s lawn. Stocky and short, Mattie Skuggs was a kind soul but by no means unsophisticated. Mattie’s simple and uncomplicated, happy, content life was the rare exception in the hurry-up-dash PTSD world. Quiet and retiring, Mattie was no timid push-aside walkover. Mattie Skuggs was one of an almost forgotten genre. Retiring, soft-spoken, polite, and considerate, she never complained. She had a warm guileless appeal Craige often wished there was more of. Crass and bluster offended both. They’d gotten it from their upbringing; Mattie’s Mama and Craige’s Grannie had been faithful churchgoers.

Few understood Mattie’s gift, often giving her fearful sidewise glances, mostly for what she might truly know about them. Mattie had learned to quietly use it to help when she could. Craige didn’t need to ask. He’d seen it first-hand in Grannie as well as Mattie. Wasn’t something explainable to run-of-the-mill millennials that couldn’t survive, their lives wired into the latest gadgets? With Mattie, it was simple—a blessing to be shared.

Mattie never married. Never spoke of beaus or boyfriends. Craige made a point of never asking. He doubted she’d ever had a date. Could picture her likely shocked speechless if she saw a man naked, then again, maybe she wouldn’t. A true maiden lady could often know way more than anyone suspected. Born with a keen mind, yet she never finished high school. Didn’t read or write well. Her greatest delight was her tidy, orderly, immaculate one-bedroom cozy, bought-and-paid-for home. With an exceptional eye for rare quality, flea market sojourns were regular delights on her off-days from the Fabric Shoppe where she’d worked for years. She was thrilled if she found a treasure, like her antique brass front door knocker rescued from the gone-to-ruin Pasquerre mansion.

As he reached for the door knocker, her front door opened. Her plump, rosy-cheeked guileless face framed in the doorway, “Mister Craige.” In her lower Alabama accent, stout matronly Mattie’s spirited ice blue eyes were all a-twinkle.

What’s the next writing project?
…already in rough draft. Swamps and tourists, fat gators in steamy bayous, haints and bloodthirsty monsters that are your everyday fine folks in church. Craige Ingram will once again be faced with death-threatening challenges that only his SEAL instincts enable him to survive.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)
Writing, editing, trimming out the fluff and cutting away wordiness in settings, dialogue, extraneous characters…cutting to the chase while twisting the plot and keeping my readers hooked. I owe a big thank you to some very fine editors that contribute hours of days and weeks in fashioning constructive criticisms that make this writer wonder, “That’s so obvious. Why didn’t I see it!?” This all applies to this book as well as my previous titles.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?
Yes…I research first fundamental big pieces to shape setting(s)

Yes…I research while writing/editing if a character-plot-scene can add/detract/change the thrust of the tale being spun AND during galley finals before print-formatting. I stand in awe of reference librarians – they work miracles.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
The muse never quits, 24/7, all night, all day, every day. It’s great! When I can’t be knitting words together or painting pictures into a scene, I write notes. There’re notes scattered all over my study since I am almost compulsive to get them down. The beehive of plot, character, setting – there’s no end to it. The real writing, editing, re-writing, sometimes 15-20 times on a 200-1000-page manuscript, takes place in a windowless room that no one is allowed in but me. I love building people and castles on the ground with words, as well as castles in the air that zoom across the cosmos, dragging love and consequences, mystery and new thrills along for the ride.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
Outside my genres—nonfiction. The great, the pitiful, the arrogant idiot dictators and the sad, kind autocrats all make great studies of the human derailment and successes.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
I always enjoy visiting with you and your bloggers. Having the opportunity to interact with my readers is what keeps me writing.

Links:
Website | Amazon | Goodreads

Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!
Thank you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway